The Scarlet Letter is about a young puritan girl, Hester,
who was sent from England to the Americas by her husband to start their life in
America while he finished up business in England. However, the husband took longer than he
thought and Hester had an affair with the town minister and gave birth to their
child. Hester is publicly humiliated for
her adulterous act and took the punishment on her own by wearing a red letter A
for Adulterer. Hester was brought up by the God fearing, brimstone
and fire beliefs, and knows the extent of her sins but Hester does not tell the
town who she had the affair with and who the father of her daughter Pearl is. Hester is essentially kicked out of town so
she lives by herself and raises her daughter on her own. Over the years Hester over comes other struggles
as a young single mom, living in a time of such strict religious beliefs, and
grows up a long with her daughter. As more time goes by, she still does not
disclose who the father of her child is and over time fewer and fewer people remember
her sin and forget what the red A means.
I chose
The Scarlet Letter because I liked
reading the book when I was younger, but it has been a very long time since I
read it. The language can be challenging
sometimes but I feel a middle school aged child could read it however, I think
an 9th or 10th grader would enjoy this book more. The challenging part about this book would be
when the characters speak in old English, but as long as you could walk the
student through what they are saying I think they would understand what’s going
on. The material of the book is a little
racy because they talk about adultery, meaning sex, and sin. So you would have to explain what adultery is
and for those students who aren’t religious and you would have to talk about
what a sin means. Religion can be a
touchy subject for parents and students but I think as long you kept it within the
context of The Scarlet Letter you
could avoid any issues. Overall, I think
this book would be perfect for an 9th or 10th grader because
it talks about a younger girl who over comes societal issues essentially by
herself.
Myranda,
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this book in high school and absolutely loving it! The one thing that I can say is that I think without the right teacher this book can be incredibly boring or confusing. I had a great teacher who helped us understand the underlying secrets and story line. This book is so incredible and teaches the reader what judgement and sacrifice is through the words of a great author and character. Great choice!
Amanda
I never had to read this book, but I wish I had. The themes of the story are so relevant to the themes of life that everyone faces today. I was fascinated by the concept of forcing someone to publicly wear something that marks them as a sinner, and I wonder if that is not much different from today. How many groups of people will reject one person because of one thing they don't believe in, yet commit many "sins" themselves? I think this is a great book to study themes in literature, as well as acceptance of other cultures and people, and their differences.
ReplyDeleteI have heard about this book many times but never knew what it was actually about. I agree, this seems like a great book to use for upper middle school or high school. I remember being very frustrated with books that were written in Old English but I think that a teacher can make all the difference. I would definitely use this book in my classroom!
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard of this book was in the movie "Easy A". I defiantly agree that this book is for upper middle school grades because of its content. Maybe to add a fun twist on this book you could show Easy A and compare the modern interpretation of an old story. I also think this book was turned into a movie that featured Demi Moore. You could possibly compare the two? Either way I think this book has a lot of potential!
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